WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Bartholomew “Bart” Stevens as Acting Director of the Bureau of Indian Education while the process for finding a permanent director continues. The temporary appointment became effective February 2. The vacancy announcement for the post opened last November and closed on February 1.
“This temporary move was necessary as we review and assess what we expect to be a talented slate of candidates for the critical position of Director of the Bureau of Indian Education,” Echo Hawk said. “I am pleased that Bart Stevens has assumed this leadership role to keep the Bureau on track in delivering quality education services to all BIE students.”
Stevens, an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona with ancestry from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Idaho and the Ute Indian Tribe in Utah, has been the Bureau’s Deputy Director for School Operations since January 4, 2009. He replaces Kevin Skenandore, who had been serving as the acting BIE director since August 2007.
“I want to express my deep appreciation to Kevin Skenandore for his diligence as acting BIE director over the past 29 months and his dedication to the improvement of our schools,” Echo Hawk said.
Following a long career in teaching, counseling and school administration positions in tribal and public schools in Utah, Stevens joined the BIE’s New Mexico South Education Line Office in Albuquerque in July 2006 as an Education Line Officer (ELO).
Starting in August 2007, he concurrently held two of three BIE associate deputy directorships – Acting Associate Deputy Director-East and Acting Associate Deputy Director-West – in which he was responsible for the line management, direction and supervision of 16 Education Line Offices overseeing BIE-funded schools in 25 states. He continued to serve in both posts until his promotion to Deputy Director for School Operations.
Stevens holds a Bachelor’s degree in Family and Human Development (2000) and a Master’s degree in School Administration and Supervision (2005) from Utah State University. He also holds a Master’s degree in Social Work (2003) from the University of Utah. In 2005, he received an administrative/supervisory education license from the Utah Office of Education.
The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs oversees the Bureau of Indian Education which operates the federal school system for American Indian and Alaska Native children from the federally recognized tribes. The BIE implements federal education laws, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, in and provides funding to 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools and peripheral dormitories located on 64 reservations in 23 states and serving approximately 42,000 students (School Year 2009-2010). The BIE also serves post secondary students through higher education scholarships and support funding to 26 tribal colleges and universities and two tribal technical colleges. It directly operates two post secondary institutions: Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.
